SC Moves To Replace Common Core With Own Standards

The Common Core could be on its way out in South Carolina. The senate unanimously approved a bill yesterday that would allow the state to replace those standards for students with its own. But the state would still keep the Common Core in place next school year, while those new standards are being developed.

Debbie Elmore with the South Carolina School Boards Association says that compromise makes sense, since it doesn’t pull the Common Core right away, but provides time to assess and change those standards.

“This bill is a good answer for South Carolina in terms of recognizing that the educators have invested a lot of time and effort in implementing these standards,” says Elmore.

The bill also requires the state to find new standardized tests to administer to students next year. The state had planned on using the SMARTER Balanced tests aligned to the Common Core. But State Schools Superintendent Mick Zais pulled the state out of that a few weeks ago, saying that’s what the legislature wanted.

In North Carolina last week, a legislative committee recommended replacing Common Core standards with the state’s own.

Common Core standards were developed by leaders from multiple states. They were developed to help states raise standards and come up with a common set of expectations for what students should know. The federal government endorsed them by tying federal grants to their adoption.

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North Carolina lawmakers have taken the first steps to repealing Common Core standards for students in kindergarten through twelfth grades. A committee gave its support to proposed legislation that would do just that. It still needs to go before the full General Assembly.